Akhenaten is my favorite Egyptian pharaoh, EVER!!! Here is a little about him so that more people are astounded by his rad-ness.
Akhenaten (meaning "living spirit of Aten") was known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV (sometimes given its Greek form, Amenophis IV, and meaning Amun is Satisfied), a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, ruled for 17 years
and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monotheistic or henotheistic. An early inscription likens him to the sun as compared to stars, and later official language avoids calling the Aten a god, giving the solar deity a status above mere gods.
Akhenaten tried to bring about a departure from traditional religion, yet in the end it would not be accepted. After his death,
traditional religious practice was gradually restored, and when some dozen years later rulers without clear rights of succession from the Eighteenth Dynasty founded a new dynasty, they discredited Akhenaten and his immediate successors, referring to Akhenaten himself as "the enemy" in archival records. He was all but lost from history until the discovery, in the 19th century, of Amarna, the site of Akhetaten, the city he built for the Aten. Early excavations at Amarna by Flinders P
etrie sparked interest in the enigmatic pharaoh, whose tomb was unearthed in 1907 in a dig led by Edward R. Ayrton. Interest in Akhenaten increased with the discovery in the Valley of the Kings, at Luxor, of thetomb of King Tutankhamun, who has been proved to be Akhenaten's son according to DNA testing in 2010 by Zahi Hawass of Cairo. Akhenaten remains an interesting figure, as does his Queen, Nefertiti. Their modern interest comes partly from his connection with Tutankhamun, partly from the unique style and high quality of the pictorial arts he patronized, and partly from ongoing interest in the religion he attempted to establish.
Some recent debate has focused on the extent to which Akhenaten forced his religious reforms on his people. Certainly, as time drew on, he revised the names of the Aten, and other religious language, to increasingly exclude references to other gods; at some point, also, he embarked on the wide-scale erasure of traditional gods' names, especially those of Amun. Some of his court changed their names to remove them from the patronage of other gods and place them under that of Aten (or Ra, with whom Akhenaten equated the Aten). Yet, even at Amarna itself, some courtiers kept such names as Ahmose ("child of the moon god", the owner of tomb 3), and the sculptor's workshop where the famous Nefertiti bust, and other works of royal portraiture, were found, is associated with an artist known to have been called Thutmose ("child of Thoth"). An overwhelmingly large number of faience amulets at Amarna also show that talismans of
the household-and-childbirth gods Bes and Taweret, the eye of Horus, and amulets of other traditional deities, were openly worn by its citizens. Indeed, a cache of royal jewelry found buried near the Amarna royal tombs (now in the National Museum of Scotland) includes a finger ring referring to Mut, the wife of Amun. Such evidence suggests that though Akhenaten shifted funding away from traditional temples, his policies were fairly tolerant until some point, perhaps a particular event as yet unknown, toward the end of the reign.
Following Akhenaten's death, change was gradual at first. Within a decade a comprehensive political, religious and artistic reformation began promoting a return of Egyptian life to the norms it had followed during his father's reign. Much of the art and building infrastructure created during Akhenaten's reign was defaced or destroyed in the period following his death, particularly during the reigns of Horemheb and the early Nineteenth Dynasty kings. Stone building blocks from Akhenaten's construction projects were later used as foundation stones for subsequent rulers' temples and tombs. (From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten )
My LIFE has been such a whirlwind lately. Several custom orders, my Mom is moving so I’ve been helping her through that, and my accounting finals are coming up. I have always had a job as a bookkeeper to supplement my web store. I know, I know you never would have pegged the artsy girl as the bookkeeping type. Well never would I. I sort of fell into the position a long time ago, and found that my neurotic mix of OCD, and penchant for meticulously scrutinizing everything makes me perfect for the position. Actually most days people treat me like I’m doing magic tricks with approprate ooooh’s and aaaaah’s, and then they buy me lunch. Quietly set it on the corner of my desk and back away in reverence so as not to disturb me. Ok it’s not that dramatic, but lunch does appear on my desk randomly. Cookies use to as well, but that doesn’t happen much anymore and it makes me sad. Ok as you can tell I have a lot of time for my mind to wonder at work. I am constantly busy, but it is mostly tedious routine so my brain is free to roam at will. In addition, it gives my brain a rest from the creative grind so I don’t get burned out. Putting me outside that realm for just 
enough time during the day so that I am refreshed when I get back to my workbench in the afternoon.. Actually, I doubt I would have had the confidence to open my web store without this job. But that is a story for another time.
Anyway…. back to the point I was trying to make. So at the beginning of this year I didn’t think my life was full enough with running my on-line business, taking care of my MOM, and helping her move so I thought I would start getting a degree in Accounting. I just seem to LOVE piling the work on myself. I already have a degree in Art, Anthropology, Visual Presentation, and was two classes shy of a minor in Japanese and Fencing, but those don’t really help if I needed to find another bookkeeping job. Though I’ve been working in the field for sometime 
now I just hate that confused look that comes over human resources people’s faces when they look over my resume. So back to school I go. I have to tell you, as you might suspect, I LOATH accounting courses. I dearly love doing the work as a job, but it is a COMPLETELY different thing to sit in a class and mesmerize the principals behind the systems. Finals are this week so I am planning out my summer, to be used to the fullest till I go back to school in the fall. It all starts this weekend. I’m going to 
cat sit for my sister, and when I do that I usually don’t bring any of my normal art or jewelry projects with me. I usually pick up a project I have long since pushed aside and work on that. I find that if I completely remove myself from what medium I normally work in it replenishes my creativity and kick-starts my motivation. So this weekend I’m going to try my had at making hair falls again. A dear, dear friend taught me how to make them many years ago, but my hands never took to it. It’s an arduous process that takes a ton of time and determination. But I have all the supplies to make just the ones I want so I’ve got to give it one more try. So here is a little look book of all that styles of hair falls that inspires me on my quest for really long awesomely edgy hair. I will keep you updated to my progress.
